Nearby Theaters

Open from at least 1978 to 1990 and was located in the Tower Mall, named for the water tower on the property. It was the first and only in Portsmouth. It was a barbell shaped, one level mall that opened in 1973 and the last stores closed in 2001 and the entire mall was demolished, except for Bank of America, The mall was replaced by the Victory Crossing Shopping Center.

From intro: “Open from at least 1985 to 1990 and was located in the Tower Mall, named for the water tower on the property. It was the first and only in Portsmouth. It was a barbell shaped, one level mall that opened in 1973…”

This theater opened several years before 1985. I’m not sure if the theater opened at the same time as the mall’s grand opening, but the theater definitely was open by 1978.

This was an AMC theatre. It’s final GM was Kathryn Byrd. I worked there from 1989 until it closed in 1990 as projectionist, concession worker, usher and ticket sales. One of it’s final movies was Silence of the Lambs. I remember due to contractual obligations the theatre had to remain open beyond its original closing date. I and a couple of other employees were then transferred to Circle 4 theatre at Military Circle in Norfolk. Kathryn was a great GM and helped me greatly.

I remember this mall well and only saw a handful of films here. Octopussy, Ghostbusters and Back to the Future II are the ones I definitely remember. Tower Mall was a Friday night treat for me as a kid. Dinner at Shoneys and my Dad would drop my mom off at the Giant Open Air grocery store down the street. We would kill an hour or so at the mall and then pick my mom up. I spent many hours browsing the records at Record Bar. Spent my 11 or 12th birthday at the ChuckECheese there.